The Cambridge Companion to Sherlock Holmes

By: Janice M. Allan - editor, Christopher Pittard - editor

Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre, John Keating

Sherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective in history, with a popularity that has never waned since catching the imagination of his late-Victorian readership. This companion explores Holmes' popularity and his complex relationship to the late-Victorian and modernist periods; on one hand bearing the imprint of a range of Victorian anxieties and preoccupations, while on the other shaping popular conceptions of criminality, deviance, and the powers of the detective. This collection explores these questions in three parts. "Contexts" explores late-Victorian culture, from the emergence of detective fiction to ideas of evolution, gender, and Englishness. "Case Studies" reads selected Holmes adventures in the context of empire, visual culture, and the gothic. Finally, "Holmesian Afterlives" investigates the relationship between Holmes and literary theory, film and theatre adaptations, new Holmesian novels, and the fandom that now surrounds him.

©2014 Janice M. Allan (P)2019 Recorded Books

Alternating narrators: try the odd numbers

I love Elizabeth Sastre. She narrates the female authored chapters, initially the odd ones. That’s enough for me but I also know well the Holmes canon. The combo is friendly, fascinating but simultaneously dry.
Worldwide culture used to flow outward from the British Empire, Holmes “lived” 1880s-1920s, we learn much about this time and place and its aftermath using a familiar focal point. Surprisingly interesting.

Very dry and horrible narration

The book overall was quite boring to listen to. The topics discussed could have been shorter. The male narrator's cadence and tone were horrendous. The inflections within the sentences was like riding a roller coaster. The female narrator was a little more palatable.